Thursday, December 31, 2015

Bulletin for Sunday, January 3rd, 2016

L: I will lift up mine eyes to the hills from whence comes my help. My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.

P: He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keeps thee will not slumber.

L: Behold, he that keeps Israel shall neither slumber, nor sleep.

P: The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night

L: The Lord preserve thee from all evil. He will preserve your soul.

P: The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth and even for evermore.

Prayer of Invocation: We beseech thee, Master, to be with us our helper and protector on this the first day of the week, our day of resurrection. Save the afflicted among us; have mercy on the lowly; raise up the fallen; appear to the needy; heal the ungodly; restore the wanderers of thy people; feed the hungry; ransom our prisoners; raise up the sick; comfort the faint-hearted. In Jesus name. Amen.

Prayer of Confession: Eternal God in whom we live and move and have our being. You have drawn us to yourself and we cry to you, Abba, Father! We confess our sin, and the sins of our society, we have used your gifts carelessly, and acted ungratefully. We enjoy the fruits of the harvest, but forget that you have given them to us. We store up goods for ourselves alone, as if there were no God and no heaven. Father, in your mercy forgive us, deliver us from proud thoughts and vain desires that we all, with unveiled face, might behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, and be transformed into the same image from glory to glory. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon: Jesus said, “If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink,” and “whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. Come, buy, without money and without price (Isaiah 55:1). Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Hear the good news.